Surgical dressing

ABSTRACT

A surgical dressing is provided for direct contact with the wound. The dressing is well suited for placing on the healing area since like surgical gauze it is substantially free from the tendency to deposit loose fibers in the wound site. The construction of the dressing can be readily varied to accomplish selected purposes in terms of bulk, absorbency, feel, etc.

United States Patent 1 13,5s9,367

[72] Inventor James W. Sease [56} References Cited Greenwood UNITED STATES PATENTS 2 21 $5 1 2,682,873 7/1954 Evans et al 1 128/296 f m d I971 2.928.389 3/1960 Ganz et al. 128/296 i ll Parke 6M5 & Company 3,067,747 12/1962 Wolterding et a1 128/296 Dem), Mich. 3,190,289 6/1965 Pat1ence i. 128/296 Primary Examiner-Charles F. Rosenbaum Anorneys-Robert R. Adams, David B. Ehrlinger, George M.

Richards and Edward J. Gall ABSTRACT: A surgical dressing is provided for direct contact [54] g fi 'z q g with the wound. The dressing is well suited for placing on the anus rawmg healing area since like surgical gauze it is substantially free [52] [1.5. CI 128/296 from the tendency to deposit loose fibers in the wound site. [51] lnt.Cl A61f 13/00 The construction of the dressing can be readily varied to ac- [50] Field of Search 128/155- complish selected purposes in terms of bulk, absorbency, feel,

- 156, 296 etc.

wAome LAYER mam LAYER FARIC U 51 PATENTED Juuzs IHYI WAODING LAYER FIBIER LAYE R uowwovsu memo IN Vlz'N'H )R JAMES w. SEASE W 18.. ATTORNE SURGICAL DRESSING SUMMARY AND DETAILED DESCRIPTION This invention relates to a surgical dressing or wound dressing of an improved type.

The primary functions of a wound dressing are to keep the wound clean and to drain body fluids away from the wound. These dressings or sponges are normally made of highly absorbent cellulosic materials (cotton and rayon). The exact configuration or construction of the dressing depends largely on the amount of absorbency desired and the expected application; that is, a dressing that is to be used directly against the wound must have the cellulosic fibers firmly anchored to the dressing so that when the dressing is removed, loose fibers are not left in the wound. As a directly applied dressing, woven cotton gauze is the accepted standard because the individual fibers are well anchored within the yarns of the gauze.

Due to the relatively high cost of woven gauze, it is common practice to use another type of dressing in combination with the gauze dressing when more absorbency than that offered by the gauze alone is needed. The gauze dressing is placed directly against the wound and the other dressing, a so-called top sponge or oversponge which usually contains loose fibers for higher absorbency, is placed over the gauze dressing. One such sponge of this type is described in U.S. Pat. No. 2,928,389. These top sponges or oversponges are not suitable for use directly against the wound because the long loose fibers which they contain can transfer from the dressing into the wound.

It is an object of the present invention to provide surgical dressings which have relatively high absorbency and which minimize the need for using additional dressings in connection with the primary dressing.

It is also an object to provide surgical dressings which have a soft feel and are substantially free from any tendency to deposit loose fibers at the wound site.

It is a further object of the invention to provide surgical dressings which are inexpensive and minimize the need for applying combinations of different types of bandage in connection with a surgical procedure.

Other objects, advantages and purposes of the invention will be apparent from the following description in relation to the accompanying drawing in which:

FIG. I is a view in perspective ofa four-ply surgical dressing in a preferred form of the invention;

FIGS. 2, 3 and 4 are plan views showing successively the method of folding the component materials of the dressing;

FIG. 5 is a side view of the dressing of FIG. 3 showing the component layers of the dressing;

FIG. 6 is a plan view of apparatus useful for the machine production of the dressing of the invention.

Referring to FIG. 1, a surgical sponge or dressing 10 is shown as a folded four-ply arrangement of a gauze web or layer 11 having a dressing face 11a and corners 17. The dressing 10 is conveniently formed by joining the component layers from suitable rolls, as shown in FIG. 6, into a laminated configuration through guide rolls or pressure rolls 18. In FIG. 6 a wadding layer 14 is shown supporting a fiber layer 15 being drawn into the pressure rolls and joined there with a layer of nonwoven fabric 16 and a gauze web 11. As seen in FIG. 2, the gauze web 11 is wider than the other layers mentioned so that the edge portions 13 extend beyond the lateral edges of the other layers associated with the gauze layer 11. The arrow shown in FIGS. 2 and 6 indicates the direction of machine travel. In FIG. 3 the assembly is shown with the edge portions 13 folded over onto the wadding layer 14 to provide infolds 13a. The remaining two free ends are then folded over as in FIG. 4 to provide the infolds 13b. The resulting assembly to provide a dressing according to the invention is then folded in half along the midline a-a and then again folded in half along the midline bb which provides the dressing of FIG. 1 wherein the corners 17 of FIG. 4 are associated along the common comer of the final dressing assembly.

The mentioned corner assembly of the dressing unexpectedly is readily formed by machine methods to provide a construction having hand and feel like that of an all-gauze sponge in contrast to the starched effect, harsh corners of sponge dressings lacking a gauze wrap heretofore used in the art, particularly dressings having a nonwoven facing as opposed to a gauze facing. Also the construction overall is surprisingly effective in preventing fibers, especially long fibers, as defined hereinafter, of layer 15 from escaping through the gauze layer 11 and thus preventing them from contacting the wound site. In this connection, the advantage regarding fiber loss can be readily seen by means of a simple adhesion test. In this test, a strip of transparent pressure-sensitive adhesive tape is pressed by hand onto the face of the dressing and then pulled away for inspection. When this is done with an all-gauze fabric sponge for control purposes, relatively few fibers (these being short fibers) are pulled away in the adhesive from the fabric. When done with a bulk fiber-filled gauze sponge of the kind described in the above-mentioned US. Pat. No. 2,928,389, the adhesive is heavily covered with fibers, especially long fibers, drawn from the bulk fiber layer. By contrast, the dressing of the present dressing by the same test performs as well as the all-gauze control sponge, even though the instant dressing does contain long fibers.

For the construction of dressings of the invention various grades and types of materials can be used. The gauze layer, for example, can be any suitable cotton or rayon gauze or similar woven fabric. A preferred material is 20/12 cotton gauze. The nonwoven fabric 16 is a relatively high wet-strength nonwoven fabric of natural or synthetic fibers appropriately bonded together. The fabric allows fluid transmission and is physiologically neutral or inert. A preferred nonwoven fabric is a 15 gram rayon fiber web held in web form by suitable means such as a binder printed in parallel lines, four or eight lines per inch. The fiber layer 15, according to the invention, is a bulked layer of carded cellulosic or synthetic fibers adapted for high absorbency, for example, cotton, rayon and/or other fibers ranging in length up to inch length or longer including fibers of a length referred to herein as long fibers" which for convenience are defined as fibers about /2 inch long or longer. The bulk of the fiber layer can be varied widely as desired and is not critical. A preferred bulk, for example, using cotton and rayon fibers is about l6 grams or more of fibers per square yard of gauze in the dressing. The wadding layer 14 of the preferred construction of the kind shown in FIG. 5 can be any suitable cellulosic layer which has good absorbency and which serves to retain the fibers in the adjacent fiber layer 15. A preferred material is cellulose wadding rated at 14 pounds per ream. For purposes of the invention the wadding layer is optional. Where it is omitted, equivalent absorbency can be supplied where desired by increase of the absorbent capacity of layers I5 and/or 16. In the latter case where the wadding layer is omitted, the methods of production represented by FIG. 6 requires a reversal of the component layers so that the fiber layer 15 overlies and is supported by the nonwoven layer 16 and the resulting laminated structure is folded to confine the fiber layer in the manner indicated above.

Among the several advantages of the dressings of the invention is the advantage of a structure having the hand and feel of an all-gauze sponge in contrast to sponges having sharp corners or a slick, starchy appearance. The instant dressings also permit the body fluids to move rapidly from the wound into the highly absorbent fiber fill without allowing the fibers to reach the wound. The dressings also provide enhanced lateral distribution of fluid absorbed by the sponge. The absorbency of the dressings isoutstanding. For example, a typical four-ply dressing measuring 4X4 inches of the preferred four-layer construction mentioned has the ability to absorb 43.9 grams of water measured by dipping in water for a half minute and draining for 5 minutes. This is in contrast to a conventional l2-ply gauze sponge of the same size which absorbs 14.0 grams or a fourply oversponge of this size which absorbs 34.7 grams. In other words, the absorbency index for these three types of sponge, in order, is 43.9:l4.0:34.7.

While the invention in surgical dressings has been described in considerable detail, it will be realized that those skilled in the art can make considerable variation in such detail without departing from the scope of the invention as hereinafter claimed.

lclaim:

l. A surgical dressing adapted to be placed as a four-ply sponge directly upon a wound site comprising a laminated as sembly in sequence of a gauze fabric facing layer, a wetstrength fluid-transmissible nonwoven fabric layer, and an absorbent fiber layer, the layers being generally rectilinear and coextensive except for the facing layer which in single ply is wider so that edge portions extend beyond the lateral edges of the other layers, the edge portions being infolded at the lateral edges and the free ends also being infolded, the resulting assembly being adapted to be machine folded twice in half to provide a four-ply sponge having facing surfaces substantially free of long fibers.

2. A surgical dressing according to claim 1 including a wadding layer coextensive with and supporting the fiber layer.

3. A four-ply surgical dressing according to claim 1 wherein the gauze fabric facing layer is 20/12 cotton gauze.

4. A surgical dressing according to claim 1 wherein the nonwoven fabric layer is a wet-strength web at least equivalent to a 15 gram rayon bound-fiber web.

5. A surgical dressing according to claim 3 wherein the nonwoven fabric layer is an absorbent wet-strength web at least equivalent to a 15 gram rayon bound-fiber web.

6. A surgical dressing according to claim 1 wherein the bulk of the fiber layer is at least about 16 grams per square yard of gauze.

7. A surgical dressing according to claim 2 wherein the wadding layer is cellulose rated at 14 pounds per ream. 

1. A surgical dressing adapted to be placed as a four-ply sponge directly upon a wound site comprising a laminated assembly in sequence of a gauze fabric facing layer, a wet-strength fluidtransmissible nonwoven fabric layer, and an absorbent fiber layer, the layers being generally rectilinear and coextensive except for the facing layer which in single ply is wider so that edge portions extend beyond the lateral edges of the other layers, the edge portions being infolded at the lateral edges and the free ends also being infolded, the resulting assembly being adapted to be machine folded twice in half to provide a four-ply sponge having facing surfaces substantially free of long fibers.
 2. A surgical dressing according to claim 1 including a wadding layer coextensive with and supporting the fiber layer.
 3. A four-ply surgical dressing according to claim 1 wherein the gauze fabric facing layer is 20/12 cotton gauze.
 4. A surgical dressing according to claim 1 wherein the nonwoven fabric layer is a wet-strength web at least equivalent to a 15 gram rayon bound-fiber web.
 5. A surgical dressing according to claim 3 wherein the nonwoven fabric layer is an absorbent wet-strength web at least equivalent to a 15 gram rayon bound-fiber web.
 6. A surgical dressing according to claim 1 wherein the bulk of the fiber layer is at least about 16 grams per square yard of gauze.
 7. A surgical dressing according to claim 2 wherein the wadding layer is cellulose rated at 14 pounds per ream. 